Saturday, October 22, 2016

Lhas new well worth a crowed. Two years after having inflicted a new blow for France by placing it under creditwatch with negative implications, the rating agency economic Standard and Poor’s raised the outlook of its rating (AA) to “stable”. By doing this S&P wanted to greet “the gradual introduction of reforms to boost growth on a background of fiscal consolidation”.

The u.s. agency, whose ratings are very followed by the creditors of France, had been the first to deprive France of its treasured triple-A, in January 2012, causing a thunderbolt to a few months of the presidential election.

The minister of Economy and Finance Michel Sapin has determined that this upward revision was “a sign of the agency’s confidence in the economic outlook and the budget of the country” and that “the reforms paid”. The Prime minister, in a post published on his account Facebook this Friday evening, drew the same conclusions :

The “risk” of deterioration that S&P was identified by the placement of the France under negative surveillance are not “materialized” at the present time, said S&P in its press release, stating that “the economic recovery is on track, especially if the rebound in business investment is confirmed, and if employment growth accelerates.

The agency stressed, in particular “reforms of the taxation and the labour code”, that should be “of the stabilizing effects on employment, growth, competitiveness and the public finances”.

“This decision strengthens the government in the merits of the orientation of its economic and fiscal policy. It will continue the consolidation of public accounts, the objectives of which were confirmed in the draft finance law for 2017, and will stay the course of reforms necessary to strengthen the French economic fabric”, stressed Michel Sapin in a press release. It also considers that this decision “confirms the quality of signature of the French State, by classifying the debt of France among the safest in the world”.

“That investor confidence translates into borrowing conditions extremely favorable to the State, but also for all economic players, companies such as households,” adds the minister. It also recalls that the rating outlook of the Hexagon are now stable for the four main rating agencies are S&P, Fitch, Moody’s and DBRS.